Any good website that goes into detail on how to read horse programs? Because at the track I will read........

Question

One horse has the same time as the other in a previous race(same distance and everything) but the one will be the heavy favorite and the other will be like 25/1 can someone send a website so I know what I am fully looking at and what to look for in these programs because I probly missed something important.

Answer 1

Blood Horse is a periodical that covers, in detail, the Thoroughbred Racing industry. Go to www.bloodhorse.com, anything that you need will most likely be found on the website.

Answer 2

There are three excellent tutorial sites; youbet.net, tvgfree.net and winticket.net which will help you better understand Thoroughbred racing programs.

One thing to keep in mind is the odds in the program is the morning line, which is the track predicting how fans will wager on the races. Ultimately, you are handicapping against the other bettors at the track and those playing the simulcast, so you are very wise in gaining as much info as possible to get beyond the ML.

Answer 3

Horse #1's last race time is listed at 1:12.2 and finished 1st.

Horse #2's last race time is listed at 1:12.2 and finished 5th.

You need to know that the time listed is the time of the WINNER of the race, not that horses time.  In the above example, Horse #1 ran the race in 1:12.2.  Horse #2 finished 5th in a field where the WINNER of the race ran in 1:12.2.  If he finished 10 lengths back, his actual time would be higher.  I hope that helps....

Answer 4

The Daily Racing Form has very good fan information at it's site to help you use the past performances.

www.drf.com

Unadjusted times by themselves are not good for evaluating horses because track speed can vary from track to track and day to day. That's why speed ratings that adjust for the differences are vital.

I also recommend reading handicapping books, such as "Beyer on Speed" to learn how to use the ratings.

Happy handicapping.